


Everything Will Change So Say Your Goodbyes

by Centenniel



Category: Now You See Me (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Centenniel/pseuds/Centenniel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Eye gives the Four Horsemen the chance to say goodbye and tidy up loose ends before joining them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jack

**Author's Note:**

> The movie didn't give us much back story on the Horsemen. But that's why fan work can be fun because we get to make up our own! This is my attempt at that.
> 
> This isn't the first thing I've ever written but it's been a while. I've been having a rusty few years. Anyways, please enjoy.

The panic wasn’t completely unfamiliar to Jack Wilder. It was the kind of panic brought on by being unable to remember how one got to where they opened their eyes. Usually there was a logical explanation: he had drank too much the night before and blacked out or he fell asleep on the train and missed his stop. But this…there was no explanation for this. 

He was back in his childhood room which hadn’t changed much since he left for college. The twin size bed was still covered in blue flannel sheets. The walls were still creamy beige. Comic books, little league medals, a lava lamp adorned his desk. 

He tried to turn on the light but the bulb burnt out a long time ago. After he left, there would have been no reason for anyone to be in his room. He sat down on the edge of his old bed, trying to piece together how he could have ended up in his parents’ home.

Last night, they had found the tree of Lionel Shrike. And then…The Eye. Dylan Rhodes. The carousel. The gentle bobbing of the horses. 

He couldn’t be sure only a night had passed or that he hadn’t completely imagined the entire last year. But his body was sore from his fight with Dylan Rhodes and he was still wearing the same clothes as when they pulled the last heist. 

A voice travelled through the thin walls. Somebody was home. He checked his watch. It was just past 8 in the morning. His father would have already left for work and his mother would be leaving soon. 

Jack swallowed as he remembered the last conversation with his parents. It had been on the phone. 

He was 19 years old and it was the summer after his freshman year of college. His father had managed to secure him an internship at an investment firm in New York City. It was an amazing opportunity but a week into his internship, Jack realized it was not the life he wanted. Writing e-mails, drafting reports, sitting in meetings all day: he couldn’t let himself get trapped in such an existence.

In a nihilist gloom, he took a walk during lunch. He trudged a few blocks and noticed a small crowd. Curious, he went to see why they had gathered. And there he was: the magician who would change his life forever. 

When Jack told this story to the other Horsemen, Henley had groaned and asked if it was J. Daniel Atlas. 

No, it had not been Daniel. 

Jack didn’t remember his name but what he did remember was the man’s energy and his ability to enervate the crowd. He remembered their wonder and cries of delight as the nameless magician pulled off impossible feats with just a deck of cards and a few pieces of paper. His jaded thoughts fell aside and he realized how amazing and miraculous the world could be. 

He called his parents that night to tell them of his decision to pursue a career as a magician. 

At first they were in denial. Once they realized he was serious, they panicked. Then pleaded. Then threatened. 

If he really meant to quit his internship and give up any hope of stable employment, then don’t bother coming home. Which is exactly what he did and how he ended up pick-pocketing tourists to make ends meet. 

Dishes clattered and Jack shook himself out of his reverie. He needed to get out of there. 

He went over to the window but it was stuck tight from disuse. “Shit,” he muttered and stepped back. He was glancing around his room for anything to grease the frame when his gaze fell on something from both his recent and distant past. 

The third and last issue of a superhero comic called ‘Skeleton Man’ who could control the movements of any skeletal frame, living or dead. His enemy was a hypnotist who wore a turban and the folds of the turban looked like a giant eyeball. It was a terrible comic and slightly racist and Jack could not remember why he kept it for so many years.

As soon as he picked up the weathered comic, Dylan’s instructions trickled back to him. Say your goodbyes, because once you enter The Eye, everything will change. That was what he had said before he disappeared himself. 

It still didn’t explain how he ended up in his old bedroom but Jack was past believing anything was impossible. If The Eye could see all, then it knew this was the goodbye Jack needed the most.

But his ears rang with the harsh words of his parents and the equally harsh words he had spat back at them. A cold bead of sweat slid down his neck. “Oh god.” He was more nervous than he had been before their first big heist. He didn’t know how he could ever explain to his parents what he had been through and why.

If he was honest with himself, Jack had no idea what being part of the The Eye really meant. Could he no longer perform? Would they have to be celibate like monks? Was that too ridiculous to even contemplate?

He wiped the back of his neck and gathered his courage. He had come too far to give up. 

The floorboard right outside his door creaked loudly as he stepped into the hallway. He was surprised to see his pictures still hanging in the hallway. A family portrait taken at Sears during awkward pubescent phase. A candid shot of baby Jack and his grandfather. One of the millions of pictures his parents took of him and his date on prom night. 

He tread as silently as possible down the stairs and at the bottom, he turned the corner into the kitchen. His mother was standing at the sink with her back to him. She was still in her robe. 

He licked his lips but his tongue was completely dry. “Mom,” he said softly. 

She spun around and when she saw her son, she dropped the coffee mug in her hand and screamed. 

“Jack!”

“Mom…” He had wanted to be cool and not run to his mother like a little boy but seeing her face for the first time in over 3 years, he couldn’t stop himself.  
She wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed into his chest. Neither could comfort the other and for a long time, they stood in the middle of the kitchen in a fierce embrace. “Is it really you?” she asked, pulling away. She looked so much older than he remembered. 

“Yes, it’s really me,” he replied, wiping away her tears. 

“But they said you were dead. You died in that crash on the bridge!”

Jack blinked “Oh. Right. That.” 

It seemed the FBI had not revealed that the body in the car had actually been a cadaver, probably because it would make them look like bigger fools than they already did. 

His mother suddenly smacked his arm. “What were you thinking, robbing a bank?”

“Ow!” He jerked away. “It’s not like we kept the money!”

“And what about that poor old man you robbed!”

“That man is definitely not poor and he is an asshole!” He bit his tongue. “Sorry, I mean he’s a jerkface.”

“Jack.” Her voice broke as she said his name. “Jack, I missed you.”

The doorbell rang and they both jumped. Jack’s heart began to thunder in his chest. He started for the back door. 

“Where are you going?” His mother grabbed his arm. “You can’t leave now!”

“Mom, your son is too handsome to go to jail. If the FBI know that it was a cadaver in the car and not me, I’m still a wanted man. I gotta get out of here.”

“How the hell did you get a cadaver?” she hissed. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

The doorbell rang again, this time more urgently.

“Mom, listen.” He gently shook her by the shoulders. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. For everything. I love you and – ” He cleared his throat. “Tell dad that I’m sorry and I love him too. I promise I’ll get back in touch with you as soon as I can.”

That was a lie, of course, but he told it anyways. He was good at lying. 

The doorbell rang for the third time, followed by a knock. His mother turned her head towards the front foyer and Jack Wilder silently slipped out of his old life.


	2. Merritt

Merritt McKinney was used to waking up in his car but didn’t prefer to. A firm bed and 500 thread count sheets, perhaps with a pretty girl next to him, was his sleeping arrangement of choice. So when he opened his eyes and realized he was staring out the dirty windshield of his old, crappy mustang, his displeasure was immense. 

“What the hell?” he asked out loud. All he could see were family homes with white driveways and manicured lawns like in the movies about suburban discontent and robot wives. He rubbed his face with his hands in an effort to liven up. He recognized nothing, having grown up in a less than perfect family situation into an even lesser perfect life. 

Dylan’s last words to them had been about goodbyes or making amends but Merritt couldn’t think of a single person he wanted to bid farewell. Both of his parents had passed away long ago and the very idea of meeting his brother made him sick.

From his car he could see two children, a young boy and young girl, chasing each other across the lawn of three houses. The girl ran after the boy and when she caught him, he immediately turned and kissed her on the cheek. They both fell over, screaming with laughter.

The boy had a wild nest of light brown curls which reminded Merritt of the only time he saw Daniel with his natural hair. It had been their first day in France and nobody had brought converters for the outlets. As a result, Daniel had not been able to iron out his frizzy locks and spent the entire day complaining. Henley had offered to shave his head in order to shut him up and Jack had suggested just wearing a beret since they were in France, after all. Daniel had taken neither ideas into consideration. 

Merritt couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the memory. But he immediately became aware of how his current situation looked. He was a full grown man in a rusty car, watching children he didn’t know. He felt around the ignition and looked in the glove box for the keys. He was still looking when a series of sharp knocks nearly broke his driver’s side window. 

He turned, a perfectly reasonable explanation ready, but the excuse died in his throat as soon as he saw who it was. “Mel…”

About a year before he went to prison for tax evasion, he had spent two glorious months with Melanie Stewart. He had met her after a show during one of his many attempted comebacks. Merritt may not be the best looking mentalist but he was strong and could make a woman laugh which counted for a lot.

She was a far cry from the denim vested, slightly wild woman that Merritt had convinced himself he wasn’t in love with six or so years ago, when he had ran way because he didn’t know what to do with himself. Now her blond hair was pulled into a prim bun and she wore a sweater set. But her brown eyes blazed with a familiar anger that strangely reassured him. 

“You are a criminal. I should call the police,” she said. 

“Well, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t,” he replied in a lazy drawl.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded. “How did you find us?”

“I was just – wait a minute.” He held up an index finger. “When you say ‘us,’ who do you mean?”

Mel was a good liar. Not as good as Jack or Daniel but still good. However, Merritt was also very good at what he did. An inferior mentalist would have missed the slight widening of Mel’s eyes and her clenched jaw. She had slipped up. 

“My husband will be home any minute,” she recovered and crossed her arms as if to answer his question.

“Mom! Mommy!” The little girl who had been playing with the little boy ran towards them. “Can Adam and I go swimming in the pool?”

It didn’t take long for Merritt to guess why Mel had been so eager to get rid of him. She looked about the right age and she had a small gap between her two front teeth, much like Merritt had at her age, although she looked mostly like her mother. 

“Oh Mel,” he said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

The little girl fell silent at the sight of Merritt and grabbed her mother’s hand. She squirmed and pulled away until she was half hidden behind Mel’s leg. 

“Laurie, we have to leave soon. Why don’t you and Adam go inside and wait for me. I’ll be there in a minute to get you both some ice cream,” Mel said to her daughter. 

“Mom never lets me eat ice cream before school,” Adam said anxiously.

“Well, we just won’t tell your mom then, will we?” said Mel, winking. 

Laurie shrieked with delight and pulled her friend towards one of the identical houses on the street. She was spouting nonsense, the language only another parent or teacher could decipher, and Merritt felt a sharp pain in his chest. 

Mel stepped back as he got out of the car. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he repeated after a long silence. 

“Tell you what?” Mel asked innocently.

“Don’t.” Merritt felt an anger he knew he didn’t deserve to feel. “You might be able to fool anyone else on this entire planet but not me. How could you do this?”

“For fuck’s sake,” said Mel, sounding more like the woman Merritt used to know. “You disappeared without an explanation or a way to get in touch. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until a few months after you left and when I finally found you, it turns out you were about to go to jail. What did you expect me to do? What was I supposed to tell her?” She exhaled loudly. “Look, you seem genuinely surprised so I’m going to guess you had no idea. So why are you here?”

It began to dawn on Merritt that someone, or something, knew about Laurie. He was not here for Mel, as much as he had been in love with her during their time together. His throat swelled with anger at The Eye and with guilt towards Mel and Laurie. 

Merritt forced a smile. “I’m sure you know what I’ve been up to lately.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s all anyone can talk about.”

“Then you know that I have to disappear for a long while. And I just want to say – ” he couldn’t look her in the eyes “ – that I’m sorry. God, I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry that I wasn’t brave enough to handle how much I cared about you and that you had to have our girl without me. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter now but if it makes any different to you, I am so damn sorry.”

Mel looked like she was about to forgive him, absolve him for his immaturity and ignorance but at the last second she shook her head. “I have to go. It’s my turn to drive the neighborhood kids to afternoon kindergarten.” She walked away, her sensible heels clicking on the pavement. 

“Just one more thing,” Merritt called out before he could stop himself.

She turned at the end of her driveway. 

He took a deep breath. “That husband of yours,” he said. “Does he treat you well? Is he good to Laurie?”

Mel’s face softened. “He’s a really good man and he loves us. We’re a family.”

“Right.” Merritt nodded. “Okay, that’s all I wanted to know.”

He waited until she was out of sight and shoved his hands into his pockets. His right hand brushed against the cold metal of his keys. “You have got to be kidding me,” he said under his breath. 

Even after the engine turned (on the third try) Merritt couldn’t bring himself to drive away quite yet. He waited with his hands on the steering wheel for a final glimpse of a blessing, a blessing with blond hair and a gap-toothed smile, which could never be his. But Laurie never made another appearance and it wasn’t until other parents began bringing out their children did Merritt press on the brake and shift the car to drive.


	3. Henley

Henley was surprised to find her sister still living in the same condo as a year ago. Jill had always complained about how the rent was too high, the amenities lacking, and location terrible. And yet, Henley found herself sitting on one of the benches outside of Bloomfield Condominiums without a clue as to how she arrived there but she knew it wasn’t by accident.

And she had no idea what to do next. She had lived the last year according to a plan. Every move had been carefully thought out in order to achieve what seemed impossible and now that it was over, she felt vulnerable instead of invincible.

A man got out of his car and walked across the parking lot toward the condos. He glanced at Henley but didn’t slow down. Realizing she was a fugitive and sitting in broad daylight, she fished a pair of sunglasses out of her blazer pocket and slipped them over her eyes. It wasn’t much of a disguise but it was better than nothing.

She wondered where the other Horsemen were and if, like her, they were taking care of unfinished business. She knew Jack’s parents lived in California and she also knew that he hadn’t spoken to them in years. She figured Merritt had an old girlfriend somewhere: the one who got away. As for Daniel, she couldn’t imagine him with an origin story. He seemed to have come from a hole in the ground, clever as the day Henley met him.

She saw her sister’s car drive through the parking lot and take the space closest to her condo. Jill Reeves pushed the driver’s side door open with her knee and climbed out with a coffee drink in one hand and pressing a cell phone to her ear with the other.

“Do whatever it takes, offer them 15 percent if you have to,” she said impatiently. “But don’t let me hear that they backed out, okay?” She glanced over at where Henley was sitting and stopped. Her lips slowly parted in surprise. “Listen, I have to go. I’ll call you back later.”

Henley raised a gloved hand but didn’t smile or take off her sunglasses. 

“Well, if it isn’t my little sister the fugitive,” said Jill, sitting down next to Henley. “I got a nice visit from the FBI at work today. They asked me if I had seen you recently.”

“Oh? What did you tell them?” Henley asked. Beneath her nonchalant exterior, her heart quickened. 

“The truth,” Jill replied. “That I hadn’t seen or heard from you in over a year.” She tossed her bleached locks towards her condo. “Come on. I promise I won’t report you and collect the reward.”

“Ha, very funny.” Henley forced a laugh but nevertheless followed Jill inside. She took off her sunglasses and looked around the condominium. 

The loveseat and coffee table were gone and hadn’t been replaced. Same with the television which struck Henley as odd since her sister was addicted to TiVo. “Are you redecorating?” she asked. 

Jill, who had gone to the kitchen to make tea, took a minute to answer. “Sean moved out,” she finally replied. “Things had been rocky for a while and when he finally left, it seemed like a good excuse to get rid of some shit.” She appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. “If you don’t mind, could you go into my room and get the ottoman? As you can see, I’m still in the process of buying seating.”

Laundry that needed to be folded and magazines covered Jill’s bed. Shoes littered the floor like leather landmines. Three of the five cups on the nightstand would need to be soaked before any washing could be attempted. Nobody would have believed it was the bedroom of the immaculate Jill Reeves. 

The ottoman was wedged in the space floor and the bottom drawer of a long dresser. The polished, faux mahogany top was cluttered with pictures frames, some of them now empty. Henley’s eyes lingered over one picture in particular. 

It had been taken during Jill’s senior year, Henley’s sophomore year. Jill was wearing her cheerleading uniform, with one hand on her hip and the other one around Henley’s massive, hunched shoulders.

High school had been a nightmare for Henley. She remembered the shock and incredulity on people’s faces when she admitted to being Jill’s sister and how it had made her feel insignificant. Towards the end of her freshman year, she started lying about her relation to Jill and overeating to compensate for the guilt. 

When Jill found out, she was furious. She told Henley that she had never felt more betrayed in her life and couldn’t believe that her own blood would disown her when in fact, she was the one who should be embarrassed of Henley…

A sudden rush of blood burned Henley’s ears at the memory. She quickly grabbed the ottoman and went back to the living room. 

Jill, who was sitting in recliner, regarded her suspiciously. “Were you snooping through my things?”

“What? No,” said Henley. She put the ottoman on the floor and sat on the dusty green cushion. “I couldn’t find what I was looking for.” She accepted the mug extended towards her. “How’s work?”

“Work has been an absolute nightmare,” Jill answered dramatically. “Rumor is my supervisor is going to get fired. And she’s heard it too. She freaks out over nothing and has become a micromanaging, absolute control freak.”

“Hmm.” Henley thought of Daniel and sympathized. She took a sip of her tepid tea. 

“So I have to ask…” Jill trailed off and sighed, looking down. 

Henley rolled her eyes. “What? Just say it.”

“Look, I know that you admire Daniel Atlas as a professional,” said Jill, broaching the subject from a different angle. “And even though you complained about him all the time, you were secretly but not so secretly in love with him. But don’t you think it seemed a tad, I don’t know, desperate, joining his little band of thieves?”

Henley angrily cleared her throat. “First of all, we are not his little band of anything. Daniel was not in charge of us, however much he tried to be. And second, he is not the reason I did the shows.”

“Then why did you do it? What were you thinking, Hen? How did you get yourself into this?” She shook her head. “If not Daniel, then who? The hypnotist? Or was it the cute one? What’s his name…”

“Jill, did it ever occur to you that nobody made me do anything and that I was there because I wanted to be?” Henley had to fight to keep the irritation out of her voice. “You might find this hard to believe, but I don’t base my life around a single guy or what men think about me.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jill snapped. 

“Forget it.”

Two red spots burned on Jill’s otherwise pale face. “No, you can’t just walk away from what you implied: that I don’t live my own life outside of relationships. Well, at least I have relationships instead of pining after some scrawny, arrogant douchebag!”

“Okay!” Henley shouted, standing up. “This has nothing to do with Daniel! Or Merritt! Or Jack!”

But Jill wasn’t finished yet. “And you think you’re so above it all, that you don’t care what men think about you. Well, take a good, hard look in the mirror because you’re not much different from me with your high heels and dominatrix gloves!”

Henley wondered if The Eye had made a mistake. Surely she had a friend or third cousin who would have made a more poignant goodbye. Even her mother who was currently serving her third stint in rehab or her father and his 22 year old girlfriend would have been preferable. 

But they had been close once. Back when Jill first moved in with Sean and things were falling professionally apart between Henley and Daniel, they had talked on the phone nearly every day for six months – a ceasefire in an otherwise tense relationship. Disappearing off with the Horsemen only seemed to have made it even worse than before. 

Henley didn’t want to fight anymore. She sat back down on the ottoman. “My feet hurt,” she said, slipping off her black heels.

“Then why do you bother wearing them?” Jill asked.

“Because Daniel hates them,” Henley replied, smirking wistfully. “And because you’re partly right about the whole ‘caring what men think of me’ thing. Not that it’s the most important thing but I admit a tiny part of me likes it when a guy appreciates how I look. Especially when I’ve spent the majority of my life absolutely invisible to the male population.”

“You just bloomed a little later than most” Jill seemed taken aback by Henley’s vulnerable admission. “You were destined to be hot eventually. It’s genetics after all.”

They didn’t have to apologize. Sisters knew, even ones that bickered as often as Henley and Jill. 

“So where are the others?” Jill asked. “Are they waiting for you in a minivan down the road?”

“They’re around,” Henley said, suddenly reminded of her own precarious situation. She had no way of getting in contact with the other Horsement. For the past year, they had used only disposable cell phones, the last of which were tossed before the final show in New York. “In fact, I should get going. I shouldn't stay in one place too long.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Jill took on the role of the concerned big sister. “Do you need anything? Money? Some more comfortable shoes?”

“A pair of flats would be nice,” Henley admitted. She followed her sister into her bedroom where Jill began rummaging through her closet. 

“Heels, heels, wedges, boots, heels. Ha, I completely forgot about this.” She pulled out a wig: a black bob cut with short bangs. “It was part of my Halloween costume from when I was Uma Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction.” She gasped, then smiled. “I have a great idea.”

Twenty minutes later, Henley stepped out of her sister’s condo. She wore the wig as well as a pair of black flats, and a knee-length, paisley sundress under a furry cardigan which must have been fashionable at some point. She felt ridiculous.

“Hey,” Jill called from the doorway. “Take good care of my stuff. I want them back in the same condition I lent them to you.”

Henley put on her sunglasses before turning around. “Jill, when was the last time you actually wore any of these things?”

“Not the point. Also, don’t get caught while wearing my clothes. I don’t want to get in trouble for aiding and abetting a fugitive.”

“Your concern for my well-being is overwhelming.” Henley was glad she put on her sunglasses. “Goodbye Jill.”

Jill raised her hand in a lazy farewell. To her, this was just another visit from her little magician sister. She had no idea that this would be the last time they would see each other, much less the clothes she lent. 

And it took every bit of self-control that Henley possessed to turn and walk away without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my least and most favorite chapter.


End file.
